CHAPTER 318: BIGGER PROBLEMS.

After being yelled at for a while, Dante left the Bow of Fortune. His mood was far from good, but it was still better than it was when he drove toward the city center. Having decided to walk back to his apartment, he placed the Raven in his Storage. There wasn’t much time before the clock hit midnight. Once it’s past that, the final year of the twenty-first century will start.

As he walked, feeling the slight prickles of the chilly winter air freezing his face, Dante glanced behind him. Finn was there, following a few steps behind. Going by the way he kept his gaze down, it was clear that he had something to say.

Making a guess as to what it was, Dante looked up and spoke.

"The heist is over, and I’ve fully recovered. Guess it’s finally time, huh?"

He waited a few seconds, but there was no reply. Just as he began to suspect that the boy didn’t hear him, he heard a faint "oh". Glancing behind him once more, Dante saw that the boy had a look of realization on his face.

"Don’t tell me you forgot all about it."

"Well... Kinda?" Finn replied.

"After you kept nagging me about it all this time?"

"I didn’t nag."

"You definitely did," Dante said, turning his gaze forward. "That said, you don’t look too eager. This is what you have been waiting for, right?"

"Right..."

They walked a few more steps, but the silence soon grew unbearable. Exasperated, Dante stopped and let out a long sigh.

"If you have something to say, then just say it."

Stopping as well, the boy stared at him for a moment before casting his gaze down.

"I... don’t really get the whole picture, but... well, don’t you have bigger problems to deal with?"

"So?"

"So?" Confused, Finn furrowed his brows. "Shouldn’t you be focusing on-"

"Yeah, there is no point." Dante waved his hand dismissively. "I’m already rushing as much as I can. Nothing I do will speed things up. Well, more like there is nothing that can be done on such short notice." Turning around, he resumed walking, his steps slow and relaxed. "My only choice is to prepare as much as I can, and if I end up being late, I just have to deal with it when the time comes."

At the moment, they had no way of telling when Eidolon would make its move. Depending on whether they have figured out that he was VOLCAN’s host or not, the clash might happen right away, or it might be delayed indefinitely.

Dante had no choice but to act on the assumption that it’s the latter. That was the only path that gave him options other than risking his life in a fight he wasn’t likely to win.

"But... seriously, things are getting way too crazy," Finn said, having decided to stop worrying about it all. "I didn’t sign up for any of this."

"Too bad. There is no way out." Dante said. "I already have something for you to do."

"Really?" Hurrying to catch up with him, Finn asked while walking by his side. "What is it?"

Thinking for a moment, Dante turned to him with a grin.

"First, we need a secret hideout."

~[ ]~

When he opened his eyes, Dante only saw the cracked ceiling of his bedroom. The clock at the corner of his vision said it was only 03:13, which means he barely slept a couple of hours.

[Considering the amount of time you have spent awake the previous day, it is safe to assume that waking up at this time was not intentional.] Volcan said. [Could it be that you are having trouble sleeping?]

’Yeah...’

Considering the current situation, Dante found it surprising that he fell asleep at all. What’s more surprising is that he didn’t dram of anything. He felt that this was a prime opportunity for him to get one of his usual nightmares, but in the end, it was an entirely dreamless sleep.

’... maybe it was the alcohol...’

Yesterday was quite stressful, to say the least, and that announcement at the end only made things worse. If it wasn’t for Viktor’s call, things would have turned much worse, but that wasn’t to say things weren’t bad enough a they are.

’... Damn it...’

As he moved to stand up, Dante spotted Finn curled up in the corner of the room. The boy decided to stay over for the night, so they borrowed a mattress from the neighboring apartment for him to sleep on.

On the way back, Dante tried to be nonchalant, pretending that he had accepted the circumstances, but in reality, he was stressed out of his mind.

A part of him had always known that Paragon was going to show up at some point, only not so soon. He was far from ready to face a Level 6 monster, which made his last outburst look all the more idiotic.

’Volcan... how long can I use a Level 6 armor?’

[Thirty seconds.] The AI replied. [That is the maximum amount of time you can use the Level 6 armor of any Type to its full capabilities.]

’So nothing has changed...’ Dante couldn’t help but smile. ’I guess thirty seconds won’t be enough to defeat that thing...’

[I will have to do a threat evaluation first. That said, I am afraid it will not be enough. After all, our enemy is far more experienced in using powers on that level. Not to mention, he has powerful allies. Even with careful planning, I doubt we can find a way to defeat him with how limited our current capabilities are.]

’I guessed as much...’ Dante couldn’t help but purse his lips. ’In the end, we can only stress about it, huh?’

[That seems to be the case.] Volcan replied.

And that’s what they did. Sitting down on the bedside, Dante looked through his options and tried to come up with ways to fight back, even with how limited his time is. While he was at it, he remembered a certain someone who was likely in the same position as him. He didn’t hesitate to send him a message, and right after, Dante put on a jacket and went out.